August 2010

August 25, 2010

Another in our rolling newsletter, where we answer your questions over the summer. If you have a question, please send it to mheika@dallasnews.com

Q: I have been looking over the cap numbers of all the teams in the league (thanks to nhlnumbers.com) and it appears that our defense has one lowest total cap hits in the entire league. If you give Nicklas Grossman $3 mil and Matt Niskanen $.75 mil, our total cap hit for defense this year is a little more than $13 mil. There is hardly a team around at this point that is spending that little money on their defense. My question is: in your opinion, did this happen purposely or was this just the way it happened to shake out? I know the financial condition of the ownership has had some play on the spending, but this did not happen over night...this has been happening for the last few years...money spent on forwards and not on defense.

Just looking for some insight. Thanks for what you bring to the fans, it is much appreciated.

Eric from Dayton

HEIKA: Hey Eric, good question. As for Grossman, I think he is close to signing a two-year deal that will average $2 million a year, but that just adds to your point that the defense is low paid.

How did it happen? It just sort of happened as the team passed through three and a half GMs in a four-year span and the financial problems sort of took over in a span of one season.

As the Stars started to transition out of the core of Derian Hatcher, Sergei Zubov, Darryl Sydor and Richard Matvichuk, they replaced them with players who were not that much younger (or even sometimes older). The group of drafted defensemen that included John Erskine, Dan Jancevski, Martin Vagner, Richard Jackman and Matt Nickerson never really panned out for the Stars (possibly because of the instability of the AHL affiliate and possibly because they just were not good enough) and fell by the wayside. And so Dallas kept going with older replacements in hopes of competing for a Stanley Cup every season. The Stars were always in attack mode, they never wanted to stop to rebuild.

The Stars added Philippe Boucher, Mattias Norstrom, Teppo Numminen, Stephane Robidas, Jon Klemm, Martin Skoula, Janne Niinimaa and Sydor back again. It was just a constant search for veteran D-men. So when Les Jackson took over with Brett Hull as co-GMs in 2007, he worked hard to try to allow Trevor Daley, Nicklas Grossman, Matt Niskanen and Mark Fistric to get a chance to play at the NHL level. He also made the trade for Brad Richards ($7.8 million) and gave Mike Ribeiro his contract extension at $5 million a season that helped set a high bar for forward payroll that would force some of the decisions that Joe Nieuwendyk has had to make in the last year.

Then, Norstrom retired and Zubov could not be re-signed, and the door swung wide open for the young defensemen all while the Stars' finances tightened up.

So, Dallas went from spending over the cap in the 2008-09 season to having a $45 million internal budget in 2009-10, and they went from having flexibility to spend on defensemen to having none. Thus, they have four very young defensemen who are not making that much money and a couple of solid veterans who are not making that much money. If they had the extra money, they would have been in on trying to acquire a high-level defenseman in 2009 or in 2010. But that was not an option.

So that leaves you with the current group. The Stars believe this group is cheap because it is young, and that the team is getting some good bargains on the blueline. But my guess is that if you put all of them out there as unrestricted free agents, the prices wouldn't go up that much, giving credence to those who say the output of cash is reflected in the quality of play with the defensemen. (Although it would be interesting to see what Stephane Robidas could as a free agent get with the numbers he produced last season). I think the truth is somewhere in the middle _ that they are all very solid depth defensemen in at good prices, but that the Stars still miss a superstar on the blueline.

Now, the silver lining in all of this is that the Stars are positioned to get a lot better on defense if they just add one player who is very good. If Dallas gets new ownership, and that new ownership wants to up the payroll, the Stars could get in on free agent talks for a $7 million defenseman or could get in on trade talks for a player that makes that kind of money. Of course, the key to that acquisition is that the player better be worth it, but the Stars really are positioned to be a very solid defense if they just add the right player at the top and then slide down the rest of the players who are already here. If that happens, they would move to the middle of the NHL in salary allocated to defensemen, and many believe they would be a much better team.

That's the vision most of us have for where this thing is going, but you never know what's going to happen. Two years ago, San Jose had Matt Carle and Christian Ehrhoff, and now they have neither of them or Rob Blake. A lot can change in a very short time.

Bob Gainey used to joke about Guy Carbonneau, ``Y'know, he's not as good a skater as he used to be, but he sure knows where to stand.''

That's an observation that can also apply pretty well to Karlis Skrastins. The 36-year-old defenseman is not quite as spry as he used to be, but he can use his experience and his ability to read the game to help the Stars be a better team.

Skrastins did that for a large part of last season. He played 79 games, averaged 19:51 of time on ice, and helped solidify a young bluleine for the Stars. He appeared to wear down after playing with Latvia in the Olympics, but Skrastins still showed the Stars that he can be a reliable part of the team concept.

Signed as a free agent last season, Skrastins has a very nice resume. He was a member of a very steady defense in Nashville from 1998-2003, was a nice part of a Colorado team that defeated the Stars twice in the playoffs after that, and was part of a Florida team for a couple of seasons where Joe Nieuwendyk saw his strong work.

So he is a good fit for the Stars. They have four younger defensemen in Trevor Daley, Nicklas Grossman, Mark Fistric and Matt Niskanen, and probably lean far too hard on 33-year-old Stephane Robidas. Skrastins brings a quiet experience and a good sized presence at 6-1, 208.

He also knows where to stand.

Skrastins has been one of the best shot blockers in the NHL for the better part of a decade. He slipped to 19th in the league last season with 156 blocks, but he still was second on the Stars behind Robidas.

Skrastins game is not that fancy. He generally stays in front of the net and he has had success being a good partner to a top-level player like Jay Bouwmeester in Florida. He fits in on the second or third pair with the Stars. He's a left-handed shot, so his veteran presence is something that could be used with a right-handed skater like Matt Niskanen. If the Stars return the same group of defensemen (and it appears they will), it will be interesting to see how the coaches juggle pairs. Skrastins played a lot with Trevor Daley last season, but he might be used better in a different pairing. We'll see.

Skrastins will get a significant raise in the second year of a two-year deal from $1.1 million to $1.65 million, but he's still a pretty affordable player for what he does. Could the Stars try to move him if they get strong play from Philip Larsen or Severin Blindenbacher in training camp? Could they consider trading him if they get new ownership and make a trade for a top pairing defenseman? It's possible, but I think the Stars like what they see from Skrastins and believe they can get a great year out of him.

He doesn't have to do too much. He just needs to be where he's supposed to be and not make many mistakes. Veterans like Carbonneau have shown in the past that's a very valued commodity in the NHL.

August 24, 2010

I just got off the phone with Jere Lehtinen, and he said he's no more decided on playing this season than he was at the beginning of the summer.

He said he has thought a lot about the injuries and about how he has had to push his body through some tough things, and he's still not sure he's ready to do that again. He just got back to North Texas late last week and spent a hectic day taking the kids to the first day of school on Monday, so he has not been working out or skating.

He and Joe Nieuwendyk are expected to have a meeting on Wednesday morning, so maybe we'll know more then, but he acknowledged that he understands he will have to make a decision soon. He has about three weeks to get ready for training camp, which starts Sept. 17.

Since we don't have the newsletter with fan questions during the summer, we're handling things on the blog with sporadic questions and answers. If you have a question, send it to mheika@dallasnews.com

Q: Hey Mike, what's going to happen with James Neal and Jere Lehtinen?

John C.

HEIKA: Good question, John. Key front office people have been on vacation and should be back at work starting today, but I still think the pressure points of negotiations won't start really pressing on talks until mid-September.

Neal, Nicklas Grossman and Matt Niskanen are all restricted free agents and Jere Lehtinen is an unrestricted free agent. Lehtinen has an open invitation to return if he is willing to come in at a bargain price. He is back from Finland and his kids are enrolled in school, so he plans to live in North Texas this year. The question is whether or not he wants to push his body through another season after battling various injuries in the past three seasons. Joe Nieuwendyk said yesterday he has talked to Lehtinen and that Lehtinen has not yet decided. I believe Lehtinen will play only for the Stars or will retire.

I put a call into Lehtinen on Monday, but he has not returned it. I think this is a very tough decision for him.

Let's take the restricted free agents one at a time. Grossman and the Stars are close, I believe. Grossman passed on arbitration and is probably going to be helped out by the four-year, $14 million contract (averaging $3.5 million a year) that Niklas Hjalmarsson signed with Chicago this summer. The Stars I believe are looking to get Grossman signed for around $2 million a year for three or four years.

Niskanen has a qualifying offer of $756,000, and I think the Stars have some wiggle room on him, but I don't think they will go much above $1 million a season right now.

Neal is the tough one. I believe the Stars have offered a two year deal at $2 million for the 2010-11 season and $3 million for the 2011-12 season, and I don't think they will come off of that. I think Neal's people are waiting for Bobby Ryan to sign in Anaheim, and hope that a big contract for Ryan will help shape this negotiation, but I really feel the Stars may be willing to play hardball with Neal. Neal might even ask for a one-year deal, and I don't think the Stars will give him that, because they don't want to go through this again next summer (when Neal would have arbitration rights). Bottom line, the Stars have the hammer in this negotiation, and they may be willing to wield it.

Without an RFA offer sheet, Neal's only real negotiating tool is to miss training camp and hope his absence hurts the Stars. However, the team is so deep at left wing, I think they can get by without Neal in the short-term.

But if the Stars are going to play that game and will not change their offer at all, then it makes no sense for Neal to sign his deal until Sept. 15 or 16. Even if he plans on coming in on time and has already made that decision, he might as well hold open the door for an RFA offer sheet until then.

So that's where I think things are with all of the free agents. There will be talks (probably as soon as today), but I think we still could be a couple of weeks away from seeing signed contracts.

August 23, 2010

First, it's intriguing to ponder exactly what the 24-year-old defenseman can become in the NHL. And second, you could learn a lot as an organization in studying how he got to where he is right now.

There are a couple of insiders I talk to who believe that Fistric right now is better than either Nicklas Grossman or Matt Niskanen, and that he has the ability to exceed both in overall ability. Now, there's a lot of subjectivity in those opinions, and the people I talk to love the physical side of the game (so that favors Fistric in their eyes), but it certainly makes for a good debate. This isn't to pit teammate against teammate or to start any kind of fight, but they believe it is an interesting study into whether it's smart to make a player fight for every inch of ice in his climb to the NHL.

Mark Fistric has had to that, and then some.

Fistric was drafted 28th overall out of junior hockey in 2004, which actually puts him in the same spot as Niskanen (28th overall in 2005) and an earlier pick than Grossman (56th overall in 2004), so it's not a stretch to say he has the ability to be better than either. And, in that regard, you have to credit both Grossman and Niskanen for moving ahead of Fistric in the earliest camps where the three were fighting for roster spots.

Fistric stayed an extra year in junior hockey because of injuries that cut short his 2004-05 season. Grossman came over from Sweden and played 61 games for Iowa in the AHL in 2005-06. Fistric started out with a fantastic AHL season in 2006-07 with two goals and 22 assists for 24 points in 80 games(Grossman had 10 points in 67 games on the same team). So all was in place for Grossman and Fistric to move up together and take spots on the 2007-08 Stars.

But that's where Fistric had his biggest hiccup. Grossman became an early lock on the team, and Niskanen won a battle by playing well beside Sergei Zubov in training camp. That meant Fistric had to head to Iowa again, while the others took a step forward. Fistric earned the chance to play 30 NHL games that season, and he also was used for nine playoff games. However, Niskanen played in 80 regular season games and 16 playoff games, and Grossman jumped up to the top pair with Stephane Robidas in the playoffs, playing all 18 post-season games.

Fistric then started the 2008-09 season in the NHL, but was eventually sent back to the minors. He split his time between Dallas (36 games) and Manitoba (35 games) ended up playing 22 playoff games with Manitoba and helped the Moose to the AHL Final. He then followed that up with an outstanding performance last season where he played in 67 Stars games, had a goal and nine assists and led the team at plus-27. His plus-minus was 19 better than his next closest teammate (Brian Sutherby at plus-8) and ranked 10th overall in the NHL.

Stars coach Marc Crawford explained some of the reason for the huge plus total with the fact Fistric played on the third pair and didn't have to face the other team's best players, but I think that only goes so far. Plus-minus is a stat that can vary widely and you can get lucky from a nice run of good circumstances, but the bottom line is Fistric played 14:55 a game for 67 games and was on the ice for a whole lot more goals for than he was goals against. To me, that means he played pretty well.

So what's the reason? A lot of people think it was because Fistric was brought along slowly and was forced to claw his way through the minors. The kid obviously has talent, otherwise he wouldn't have been drafted so high, but he also has a hunger burning inside that seems to have been built by a hard climb.

Will that hunger continue this season? Could he get complacent now that he seems to have a roster spot? Again, that will be interesting for the franchise to watch. Last season, Fistric missed five games with a head injury, five games with a knee injury, one game with food poisoning, and was a healthy scratch for four games. He will be expected to be an everyday player this season and also be expected to up his minutes. A lot of people think that will be a good thing for him. If Fistric gets the opportunity to show what he can do, there are those who predict he will become one of the team's most reliable defenders. He appears to have more physicality than any member of the defense, and he seems to have the skills to skate and pass within the Crawford system.

If he does, you wonder if the team might make more kids fight their way out of the minors.

August 20, 2010

I talked to a source close to the Stars sale today, and he said that the negotiations are going at a methodical pace, and that he does not expect a sale any time soon.

He said that many of the parties who are involved in negotiations are in the middle of family vacations, and that talks should pick up after Labor Day. When I asked about the Forbes report that the sale of the team could go for $275 million to $300 million, he said that there is no limit on what the final price might be, and that there are a lot of variables in what the final price might be. But he said that they are not in the final stage by any means of finding out what that price might be.

He said there are still two primary bidders but would not name them (they are believed to be Tom Gaglardi and Bill Gallacher), and said that they still are seeking additional bidders. News Corp. is out, and in an e-mail I sent to Mark Cuban, he declined comment on any talk of the Stars sale, so I'm not sure who could be getting in on the bidding. I think Gaglardi and Gallacher are the primary bidders and both are being cautious about establishing what they believe might be a fair price for the Stars.

Everyone is being quiet and patient in trying to get this done. The sellers obviously want a bidding war. The buyers are trying to be coy with what they want to pay. It's status quo, basically, at least that's what he said.

August 19, 2010

A 30-year-old kid from the Toronto area liking one of Toronto's most iconic bands _ it's not that much of a stretch, right?

But I was watching the Rush documentary ``Beyond the Lighted Stage'' the other night, and I found a real tie between Barch and Rush. I never really got Rush growing up, but some of my friends thought it was the greatest band ever. In watching the documentary on Rush, the film-makers acknowledged that many people didn't like Rush, and that the band almost didn't make it. But they talked to musicians, and the musicians all thought the band was ground-breaking. They understood the details behind the musical work, and said that as far as musicians go, the trio of Neal Pert, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee deserved an immense amount of respect.

Krys Barch is kind of that way with hockey people. The masses don't always see the work he does, but those inside really seem to like him. Barch is a fighter first and foremost, but he also can be a checking line forward, an agitator and an energy guy. And, in a limited role, the coaches trust that he can do those jobs and do them well.

That's one of the reasons Barch has become an important part of the Stars. Two seasons ago when the Stars were battling injuries, Dave Tippett used Barch in 72 games, averaging 6:27 in ice time. He finished with four goals and five assists and was plus-1. Last season under new coach Marc Crawford, Barch still found a way to be productive, playing in 63 games and averaging 7:03 in ice time. He finished with zero goals, six assists and was even. Had he not suffered a calf laceration and missed the last nine games of the season, he probably would have matched his career high for games played.
So, while he is ``just'' a role player, two separate coaches found pretty good use for him, and the Stars decided to sign him to a two-year contract extension with a significant raise. Barch made $575,000 last season and will get a boost to $825,000 this year. The Stars gave some raises to veteran role players at a time when they could have opened the door for some younger prospects, and that clearly is a decision that has the chance to be proven wrong in the future. But as it was with Rush, the insiders might see something that we don't.

Barch is reliable, he understands the system and he works well within the system. He had 120 hits last season (eighth on the team), and he was able to avoid significant mistakes when he was trying to pump up the energy. He helped defend his teammates with 20 fights (eighth in the league), and while he doesn't strike the fear that some other brawlers do, he typically stands up pretty well against other fighters.

That's not going to knock your socks off as a fan, but it is an important part of putting together a team _ and the Stars obviously feel Barch is an important part of this team. He is one of the team's leaders in the locker room and a key guy with the NHL Players Association. He also seems pretty good at knowing what he can't do. Barch has been a pretty decent scorer at lower levels (23 goals among 49 points in 56 games in one junior hockey season with London; 10 goals among 15 points with Portland in one specific 76 game stretch in AHL; and 10 goals among 14 points in 14 games in his last stint in the ECHL in 2005-06), so there is the temptation to try to do more or to even demand a bigger slice of the game from the coaches. Past enforcers have tried that with the Stars, and it has proven to be a distraction.

Barch understands his role, and he has been a good soldier for coaches, and that's one of the reasons he continues to get opportunities. Will we see him step forward even further this season and possibly score more points or gain more time on ice? We'll see. The Stars signed Adam Burish as a free agent, and there is a strong push from younger players to help out on the bottom six. In fact, there could be a decent battle for ice time among players such as Barch, Brian Sutherby, Toby Petersen, Adam Burish, Tom Wandell, Brandon Segal and Fabian Brunnstrom. But the Stars have made a significant financial commitment to Barch, so the guess here is he will continue to be a significant part of the lineup.

August 18, 2010

I got a hold of four people who could have information on the sale today, and none of them offered anything in regards to the Forbes Report that the Stars could be sold soon with a sale price of between $275 million and $300 million.

Two gave clean no comments, and a couple of others said they were a little blindsided by the report and asked what I knew about it, so there still is an air at least that this could be another false alarm.

When The Hockey News reported earlier that Bill Gallacher had agreed to buy the team for $225 million, there were several immediate comments that this was not true and that the price was too low. On this one, nobody is stepping up right now to shoot it down. That could mean that the rumor has some truth behind it or it could mean that the people who could shoot it down don't want to. They like having it out there that the Stars are worth that much.

One of the questions with the Rangers was how much property was involved in the sale. When the parking lots were tossed in, that created a different price structure and created problems with the lenders, so they were taken out. The Stars have some ownership in the Dr Pepper StarCenters as part of Hicks Sports Group, but the Hicks family owns the Cedar Park Stars as a separate entity. Are those properties involved? These things are tricky, so price is often confusing.

I did take out of my conversations that there are not plans to announce this Thursday or, from what I could tell, any time really soon. There was too much uncertainty from the people I talked to for this to be close to being done.

So we'll see. I know all of you would like to get this done as quickly as possible, and I'm sure everyone involved with the sale would like to see the same thing. I will say that if indeed there is an offer in this price range, the chances of this sale getting done quickly go way up.

August 17, 2010

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - USA Hockey today announced the 22-player U.S. Men's National University Team roster, as well as six alternates, for the upcoming 2011 Winter World University Games that will take place Jan. 27-Feb. 6 in Erzurum, Turkey.

The U.S. team is comprised of players from collegiate ice hockey teams affiliated with the American Collegiate Hockey Association.

"I really like the team that we've put together," said Dave Debol, head coach of the U.S. Men's National University Team. "We've got a lot of good size and speed up front, and there are a lot of guys who know how to put the puck in the net."

Highlighting the U.S. roster for the biannual event are defenseman Dan Lassik (Garnet Valley, Pa./Univ. of Rhode Island) and forwards Daryl Dee (Garland, Texas/Univ. of Oklahoma) and Kyle Krannich (Mendham, N.J.), all of whom competed for Team USA at the 2009 Winter World University Games in Harbin, China.

NOTES: Ten different states are represented on the U.S. roster, including Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington ... The University of Rhode Island leads all schools with four representatives, while Adrian College, Lindenwood University, Oakland University, Penn State University and the University of Oklahoma each have two players on the U.S. roster ... All members of the U.S. Men's National University Team were selected following the USA Hockey Winter World University Games Evaluation Camp Aug. 6-8 in Grand Rapids, Mich. ... Dave Debol, head coach at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, will serve as head coach of the 2011 U.S. Men's National University Team after having served as an assistant coach for the squad in 2007 and 2009 ... Scott Balboni, head men's ice hockey coach at Penn State University, and Dan Phelps, head men's ice hockey coach at Adrian (Mich.) College, will serve as assistant coaches for Team USA ... For more information on the 2011 Winter World University Games, click here.